SAN BERNARDINO – Last year, things had been so different for Devin Fuller. He remembers those first few days of his college career well, donning a red quarterback jersey, even though he was barely on the depth chart as the fourth backup.

Now, split out as UCLA's starting slot receiver under the same hot Inland Empire sun, Fuller is the Bruins' best bet to explode on offense this season.

"It's night and day between last year and this year," assistant coach Eric Yarber said. "He'll tell you right now, 'Coach, it's just so easy now.'"

The ease with which Fuller has dominated UCLA's spring and fall camps makes last season – a difficult one for him – seem so long ago. He played in just nine games and didn't feel comfortable for even longer. It wasn't until UCLA's Pac-12 title game against Stanford that Fuller developed a rhythm with quarterback Brett Hundley, as the two connected on eight occasions in the loss.

"We'd already missed having fall camp together, spring practice," Fuller said, "so I was new – new at receiver, new speed, new everything. It was just working through that, and now we've had a year together. It's only going to get better from here."

That's been the unanimous message about Fuller this offseason, as he's shown a marked improvement in pretty much every aspect of his position.

"Last year, he had to think about things and learn how to run routes," Yarber said. "Now, his fundamentals are much, much better, and he goes out and uses his athletic ability. His athletic ability right now is second to none."

The hopes are already high for Fuller, who could also see time in the backfield and as a Wildcat quarterback. UCLA coach Jim Mora has already compared him to Seattle Seahawks do-everything wideout Percy Harvin – a bold comparison, considering Fuller has just 21 catches. But Mora is convinced the sky is the limit for his speedy sophomore.

"The guy just has special skills," Mora said. "Sometimes maybe you don't appreciate it as much because he makes it look so darn easy. He's just effortless in the way he moves."

TRASHING TARGETING

Mora, like many other coaches around college football, isn't a fan of the NCAA's new, controversial targeting rule, which allows officials to eject a player immediately if that player targets and makes contact with a defenseless player above the shoulders. But unlike others around the sport, Mora did absolutely nothing to hide his disdain for the new policy.

"The ramifications are so drastic," Mora said. "You're talking about kicking a kid out of a game. The way that could affect his team and the way that it could affect his career, I don't like it at all. I think it's, in my opinion – and I've been coaching for 29 years – it's the worst rule I've ever heard of. And I'm not overstating that."

Mora's particular beef was with the objectivity involved in its execution. Even this week, an official at UCLA's practice alerted Mora that a specific hit would've resulted in an ejection, only to change his mind 30 minutes later.

"It's a rule, and we have to live with it," Mora said. "Don't like it, don't agree with it, but we're going to go with it."

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